


Uncertain Times

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:36:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11672001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: Will knows something happened to Mac on her embed, but doesn't know what. Charlie knows what happened to Mac, but not what happened to Mac and Will. Pre-series torment.





	Uncertain Times

     "What happened?" When Charlie Skinner was confused about something, he felt nearly positive it was because the situation was confusing. Getting calls from the State Department, about his flagship anchor making inquiries to Middle Eastern warzones and hospitals, was a confusing situation for Charlie Skinner.

     "She got stabbed. In Fallujah, she got stabbed- she's in critical condition, but they-" Will threw up the hand that wasn't glued to his Blackberry, "I'm not family, and there's a bit of a language barrier, so the hospital won't or can't tell me anything else."

     28 hours. He'd been constantly contactable, constantly reachable, for 28 hours he'd been awake, and eager and willing to talk to anyone in the world who knew about Mackenzie McHale's condition and situation. Mostly, constant access, giving out his personal number, screaming at Pakistani diplomatic officials, were all things he tried to avoid. He knew she wasn't dead, because a journalist killed overseas would make headlines, and Mackenzie McHale would deny death itself to keep from becoming a headline.

     "I meant, what happened that two aren't... family?" Clearing his throat, in the wrinkles in Will's face, Charlie saw the long day and probable-all-nighter Will pulled. "Will..."

     Will shook his head, accepted Charlie's drink, and thought about the last things he said to her. The last things she'd said to him. Well, the last things she'd said to him in-person. There were 305 emails she'd written him since that day, and he wasn't counting _those_ as her last words to him. Their last conversation ran all night. She'd apologized, and apologized, and apologized, countlessly, in more variations of apology than Will had previously thought possible, given the confines of the known English language. It was his suggestion, that perhaps she go into linguistics instead of journalism or marriage, as a next chapter in her life; that got her to stop apologizing. The sun had come up, so she'd closed her mouth, pressed her lips into a thin line, and never spoke to him again.

     "What normally happens," Will said, dryly. He _wasn't_ sure what ended other relationships, he wasn't sure he'd ever glimpsed normal with a telescope, but with Mac he'd been happy. For awhile. "It's not like I want to propose. I don't even want to speak to her; I just wanna make sure that she isn't dead or dying, I don't think that's a lot to ask. We run a news organization, we should be able to find out if an American journalist-"

     " _I_ run a news organization. She's alive," Charlie broke in. "Medics got to her in plenty of time, she'll have a long recovery, but she'll be alive for all of it." Watching Will's face drop 28 hours of tension in two seconds, made Charlie wish he knew that trick. "You could still call her, you know. Mackenzie's been in the field for-"

     When Will shook his head again, Charlie trailed off.

     "Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that... I just needed to know she was alive." Finally putting his Blackberry down, Will cleared all thoughts of Mackenzie dying in some Middle Eastern hospital, he banished all thoughts of her being in danger without him. "I'd appreciate if we never, you know- This doesn't have to be a topic of conversation, ever again." And then he banished all thoughts of Mackenzie McHale, at all; for six whole minutes, a feat he mentally marked as a personal best when his head hit the pillow that night.


End file.
